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Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Montreal-based art-fashion duo known as Fecal Matter, is showing no signs of slowing down. Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran took the Internet by storm with their mesmerizing, otherworldly style a little over six years ago, captivating the world with an approach to fashion that’s like something out of another dimension. With four-inch heels sprouting from human-like silicone feet, the $10,000 made-to-measure skin thigh-highs for sure look like they landed from another planet, down to the meticulously manicured pinky toes.
Their latest fashion idea seems primed for the age of social distancing: opera gloves that look freakishly like actual hands. “We were channeling the archetypes of fashion, like ’50s Dior and these elegant staples, like these gloves that have a futuristic spin on something classic,” explains Bhaskaran over the phone. Even still, their pairs are not what you’d call classic. Complete with coffin nails, and horns at the triceps, the gloves offer the aggressive contours of body modifications without any of the pain. As always, Dalton proves herself to be the brand’s best fit model as she poses, Stepford-wife-style, Windex cleaner in hand, in their new look book. She dons a coiffed peroxide-blonde wig for good measure; a snug-fitting gag-cum-medical mask is worn across her face, a corset whittling her waist.
Believe it or not, Fecal Matter conceived of the idea about a year and a half ago, long before the outbreak of COVID-19. The two had initially planned to show the gloves as part of an intimate fashion presentation in New York at the end of May, but as Dalton puts it, “That changed due to the corona situation.”
Where in the past they have worked with Sarah Sitkin, an artist specializing in silicone reproductions of human bodies, Fecal Matter opted to use a manufacturer within the world of rubber dolling, a fetish in which the skin of a female rubber doll is worn as a suit. “This company was perfect because they already make silicone molds of hands for this kind of sub-group,” says Dalton. “Most people don’t care about what the gloves look like, they just want it to look like a female hand, but we really wanted something more alien and trans-human, so we added the horns to the molds.”
Like the shoes, the gloves are customizable and come in an array of different skin tones, tattoos, and hair. They’re considerably lower in price than the footwear, clocking in at $1,500 per pair, and seemingly easier to wear, too. “The procedure for the gloves is much less intricate than for the shoes but the effect is very similar,” says Bhaskaran. “The cool thing also is that the gloves stretch and the skin shoes are much more solid. They’re more comfortable overall and we are able to make more because the construction is less difficult.”
Dalton has been test-driving the gloves on essential runs to their local supermarket in Montreal. In the grand scheme of Fecal Matter’s wardrobe, the pieces are relatively tame and have been surprisingly functional in weeks since the couple have been in isolation. “We have been wearing it [the gloves] going to our grocery store,” says Bhaskaran. “We wash them and they are reusable, so it is practical for us. Especially in these times so much of what makes us happy is dressing up and playing around with clothing and just having fun, so grocery shopping is the only opportunity to go outside now.”
It’s a sentiment shared by their community of free-thinking fashion obsessives. “So many of our fans have been messaging us, like kids from Italy and China, telling us how depressed they are. For people who understand what we do, it is also a moment to realize that they can still express themselves. We just have to find ways to connect creative expression,” says Bhaskaran. “Launching the gloves right now will hopefully make people smile—and obviously still freak them out.”
